Gameweek 9 FPL Tips 2016-17

So far this FPL season has been an interesting one to say the least. With the two most expensive forwards stuttering in recent weeks the question of whether to own Sergio Aguero and/or Zlatan Ibrahimovic looks destined to continue through the entirety of the season. In the past I’ve defended the choice of Ibrahimovic, but he has not looked good in recent matches. Against Liverpool he looked sluggish and isolated and it is difficult to continue to roster him, particularly at his 11.4 price tag.

For gameweek 9 there are a few fixtures to look at as far as matchups go.

Arsenal continue to have a run of good fixtures with Middlesbrough at home this week followed by Sunderland away. Even the week 11 match against Tottenham at home could go favorably for them considering their recent form. The difficult part is trying to fit in as many Arsenal players as possible, particularly at their current price tag. My recommendation is to try to get at least Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez. Neither of them are differentials at this point, but their form is excellent and they are nearly guaranteed points.

Everton face Burnley (A) followed by Hull (H) in week’s 9 and 10. This season the Everton defense has allowed the second fewest goals with just 6 given up in 8 matches. This includes three clean sheets and they have yet to allow more than one goal in any match, despite giving up two penalties against Man C last week. Romelu Lukaku is the best pick from Everton, but he is also highly owned at 26.2%. Lesser owned players like Seamus Coleman (5.5) at 4.8% or Yannick Bolasie (6.0) at 5.3% might be better picks.

Stoke City and West Ham play Hull City and Sunderland respectively making them both excellent picks, particularly with attacking players. At 4.9 Joe Allen is looking like a good pick especially with his excellent form having scored 4 goals in the last three matches, and being on corners as well. He’s still only 6% owned as well. In defense Ryan Shawcross is an excellent differential with just 1.6% ownership and not a bad price at 4.9.

For West Ham, Dimitri Payet is starting to turn around his season while Manuel Lanzini might be worth a look if he continues to play well. At this point he’s still a risk, but at 6.4 and just 0.2% ownership it might be a gamble worth taking. This might be the time to ship out Michail Antonio considering that he’s been moved back to a more defensive position and there are other players worth bringing in to replace him.

Gameweek 9 FPL Team

My FPL team for gameweek 9 is in tatters. I was able to pick up above average points last week despite having Leighton Baines picking up zero points for me and having nobody on the bench to make up the difference.

This week is a completely different story. Two of my three defenders are completely ruled out with Baines out through injury and Jonny Evans serving a suspension for picking up five yellow cards. In addition I also have Cedric out due to an injury. That leaves me with Antonio Valencia and Donald Love and we all know that Love won’t be playing any time soon.

Fortunately I have two free transfers, but I will probably take a -4 hit to make a change in either midfield or forward. I was hoping that Enner Valencia would get some playing time at Everton, but so far he’s been a bust after getting an assist in their very first match of the season. So the choice is to ship out Valencia for Jermaine Defoe or Charlie Austin or to drop Antonio for someone like Theo Walcott.

With bringing in Walcott I’ll have the two big scorers for Arsenal and would most likely put him up as my captain to capitalize on his recent form.

Whatever I decide to do, I’m going to have to start making some big changes to this team over the next few weeks.

I hope some of this was able to help you in your decision making for the gameweek 9 FPL fixtures. Good luck and have fun!